


Past Misadventures

by Nakiruna



Category: Saints Row
Genre: Bromance, Canon Compliant, Canon Related, Epic Bromance, F/F, F/M, Game Spoilers, M/M, Multi, Shenanigans, cute!matt, during SR IV, protective!johnny, references to SR 1-3, secrets and shit, simulations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-18
Updated: 2014-09-17
Packaged: 2018-01-12 22:27:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1202836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nakiruna/pseuds/Nakiruna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Try to take over my simulation? I'll take over your mind."</p><p>In which the boss finds himself in need of saving - from his own mind. Luckily, the Saints are always willing to help their boss, even if it is for their own purposes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Like a Bug in a Jar

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NinaArena](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=NinaArena).



> I used the Cockney accent (male voice 3) for my boss.
> 
> Events of the story take place shortly after the gang rescues Johnny in SR IV.

“We really need to focus on our plan to shut down the simulation and stop Zinyak!”

“Yes, yes. I _know_ , Keith. And that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

“Really, now? Cause it sounds to me like you’re about to go play around in the simulation. I swear, it’s like a kid in a candy store…a psychotic kid with a sugar addiction.”

“Hey-first of all it’s puckish rogue-and second: I’m actually doing work here. Kinzie and Matt have personally asked me to go wreak havoc on the simulation and what kind of boss would I be if I denied them? I mean, sure, Matt really just wants to see how the thing ticks, but Kinzie is using this to our advantage…probably.”

Keith let out a noncommittal sigh that would make any politician proud and waved off-handedly. “Fine. Go play, but I expect you to start taking this thing seriously. I need you to, we all do.”

“Yeah, Keith. I know. And I will, I am, seriously.” The boss reached out and rested a hand on his VP’s shoulder, looking him straight in the eye. “I promise you we’ll get this thing done, alright? Now then, I’m going to kill some virtual aliens in the name of humanity and when I get back, we’ll all sit down and pound out our strategy for beating the shit out of Zinyak. Sound good?”

Keith raised an eyebrow and fixed the boss with scrutiny. “I don’t believe you.”

“Didn’t think you would. See you in a bit.” The boss clapped him on the shoulder and stepped into the simulation chair. The bars closed around his torso as he laid his head back. Sliding his eyes closed, the boss relaxed and concentrated on linking his mind to the simulation. Almost immediately, the connection was established. / _Alright. Now we’re talking. Colorful tunnel, more colorful tunnel, and…materialize!_ / The tunnel ended in a brief burst of blackness, but instead of fading into the familiar scenery near the New Colven gate, the surrounding space flickered like an old-time television shutting off. “Oh shit. That can’t be good.”

 

-Later-

 

Kinzie was sitting in her corner of the ship, typing furiously as she searched the simulation’s code for the subroutines she needed. She glanced up briefly when another life form entered her area. “Oh, hey Keith. Do me a favor and next time you see the boss, tell him to quit being a lazy, unhelpful jerk and get his ass in the simulation. I really need that data. Thanks.”

Keith stopped in his tracks, and glanced at the digital clock on the wall. “You know, Kinzie, much as I agree with your assessment of him sometimes, the president has been in the simulation for just over an hour, according to the ship’s clock.”

Miracle of all miracles, Kinzie’s fingers stopped moving over the keys of her laptop and she looked up fully at Keith. “What?! That’s impossible. I should have seen him the second he entered.”

“Well, I watched him step in and go and he was still there when I walked by a moment ago.” Keith shrugged in his noncommittal way, worried frown giving away the emotional investments he held. “Maybe your software is just malfunctioning?”

“Hmm. Doubtful. With all the viruses and hacking the simulation has been glitching a _lot_. Connections to the simulation are persistent, since they’re formed via tunneling, so if there was a glitch at the connection point, the boss is more than likely trapped there. Give me a minute and I’ll see what I can find.”

“Alright. I’ll leave it in your capable hands. Let me know if you find something.” Keith turned and started for the lounge. Maybe a few games of pool with Pierce would clear his tension.

“Will do.” Kinzie called to his retreating form.

 

-Later-

 

Two rounds of pool and a good deal of smack talk later found Keith in much higher spirits. He and Pierce were laughing over some of the boss’s more…unfortunate misadventures in the simulation.

“I’m telling you, playa, next thing we know and he’ll be ordering up a simulation of his own to fool around in, hahahaa.”

“Ahaha. Yeah, and he’ll probably try to pull rank and make it some sort of executive order.”

“Man, and I bet he ain’t even phased by this shit. Gettin’ stuck in the simulation, he had it comin’.”

“Who’s stuck in the simulation?” Both men turned to see Johnny striding through the door. Keith raised his drink in greetings while Pierce choked back his laughter.

“Yo, man. You have to hear this. Apparently, our supreme and amazing boss managed to go get himself stuck in a simulation glitch. How great is that? Hahaa.”

Johnny cracked a smile and snorted. “Seriously? How long’s he been stuck in there?”

Keith checked the clock on the wall and furrowed his brow a bit. “Assuming he’s still in there, about three hours. Kinzie should have found something by now…”

“She did.” Asha leaned in the doorway, gesturing for the three men to come with her. Looking between each other, they all shrugged and followed her out.

Johnny spoke first, beginning to clean his nails with the hunting knife he always carried. “So, what’s goin’ on? The boss out yet?”

Asha hesitated at the top of the stairs. “No. He’s not.” She looked down, avoiding the men’s gazes.

“Well…?” Pierce left the question open, waiting for Asha to go on.

“It’s, er, bad. Matt and Kinzie have been working for the better part of an hour now, but no luck.” She shifted and glanced towards the center room, where sounds of quiet argument could be heard.

“So, wait. Are we talking “the president screwed something up” bad or “state-of-the-union emergency” bad?” Keith stepped up so he was standing level with Asha.

“Just…come on.” With that she moved into the computer room. The men followed to find everyone else from the crew gathered around, even the smart-alec metal basketball known as CID. At once, Shaundi moved over to them and hugged Johnny.

“What? No hugs for me?” Pierce threw his arms out in mock offense.

“Can it, Pierce.” Shaundi’s words lacked their usual bite, though, and she hid her face in the front of Johnny’s spacesuit.

“Hey. Anyone wanna fill us in on what the hell’s goin’ on here?” Johnny glanced around the room to be met with either puzzled looks or averted gazes, with the exception of the two computer nerds still arguing in the center of the room. “Yo! You two. You gonna spill about what’s happening to the boss or keep us in the dark over here?”

Kinzie and Matt fell quiet, looking up at Johnny, then to each other, and back again. Kinzie chewed her bottom lip and stared at the floor for a moment, before nodding her head sharply. “Alright. So, let’s start from the beginning. Basically, each personal simulation is modeled after that person’s “hell,” so to speak, right?” There were nods all around. “Well, when I first found the boss, he was stuck in a 50’s sitcom style simulation.”

Kinzie was interrupted by Pierce’s bark of laughter. “Really, now? A 50’s sitcom? What, did “I Love Lucy” scar him as a child or something?”

“There was no cussing, no reckless driving, and no violence.”

“Oh…well, shit. That does sound like the boss’s own personal hell.” Pierce scratched the back of his head.

“Anyways, as I was saying, we rescued the boss from his own personal simulation already. However…it looks like Zinyak found something better to use against him. And by better, I mean worse.”

Ben broke in this time. “It’s something from his past, like mine and Johnny’s here. Oh, and Matt and Shaundi, I guess. But it’s from way, way back and it’s gruesome to say the least.”

Pierce dropped his hands to his sides and fixed Ben with a puzzled expression. “Um, just how far back we talkin’? I mean, it was obviously before he met Shaundi and me, but the boss was pretty young when he first ran into you.”

Kinzie went back to typing furiously while Matt searched through page after page of code. After a few more moments of dead silence, Matt leaned back and stretched. “Well, from what Kinzie and I have been able to gather, the only person here who would know anything about it is Johnny Gat. He’s…um, the only other person we’ve identified in this new simulation.” Matt glanced up at Johnny nervously. “From what we can tell, it’s mostly an old memory until the end, which changes every time. That bit is Zinyak’s doing surely, but…the fight doesn’t seem to be.”

Suddenly, Johnny pulled Shaundi off of him and stepped forward. “Wait a minute. Is this from when the boss and I were kids?” His intensity caused both of the hackers to jump. Matt shrank back a bit, but Kinzie was able to steady herself slightly after the outburst.

“Well, I’m not sure _exactly_ when-”

“Describe it.”

“Describe…? I’m not sure-”

“The boss is a short, scrawny kid.” Johnny held up his hand at about his middle ribs. “Paler than he is now, makes his freckles really stand out. Wearing a white button down that’s a bit big on him and gets blood all over it.”

“Y-yeah. That sounds about right.” Kinzie pushed her glasses up and tried to refocus on her screen.

Johnny, on the other hand had walked to the other side of the room and began pacing frantically. “Shit. Shit. We need to get him out. _Now_.”

“Well, we’re working on it, giving it our all, you know…” Matt kept his eyes glued to the screen while he spoke, whether out of dedication to his work or fear of Johnny, it was unclear.

“You said something about the end, the end of what exactly?” Johnny had crossed the room in two steps and was standing directly in front of Kinzie.

Her typing speed slowed, but didn’t falter. “Um…the end of the fight. Out of curiosity, how is it supposed to end?”

Johnny took a step back and realized that all eyes were on him. Everyone wanted to know more about the boss before he was the boss, when he was still a kid, things only Johnny could tell them. He let go of the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and made a genuine effort to restore his cool guy exterior. It failed spectacularly, but that’s beside the point. With one last glance around he hopped up on a desk and interlocked his hands.

“After the fight…he stood up. He was a complete mess, blood all over his face, shoulder dislocated. And still glaring at me. That kid had some fight. And I thought, ‘Hey. Anyone who’s willing to fight that hard, to throw themselves the underhand just to stay in a fight, that’s someone who’s got my respect.’”

“Then a couple of guys from the gang I was in, the Crushers, showed up. Offered to finish taking care of him for me. I told ‘em to beat it, took him to Pop Smith’s place, the closest thing we had to a doctor around, and that’s when we started workin’ together. That’s how it ended.”

After a moment of silence, Kinzie cleared her throat and adjusted her glasses again. “Well, that’s certainly not how Zinyak’s been ending it. I mean, it’s been different every time, but…it gets pretty lethal.”

“I kill the boss?!” Johnny was back on his feet. Every trace of the cool guy was gone with the unabashed horror that echoed in his words.

Kinzie looked sheepish trying to find the right words for the suffering man. “Well…not _every_ time…” She looked over at him to gauge his reaction.

The look on the iconic Saint’s face spoke of a strange combination of worry and murder. He took a few deep breaths and swallowed thickly before fixing the two hackers with an even gaze. “Get. Me. In there.” And he was out of the room.


	2. Of Murderers and Hackers

Another three hours had passed when Johnny stormed back into the central computer room. “Yo, is it ready yet?” Propelled by nervous energy, he bounced on his feet and moved around, agile enough to be almost comical, if it wouldn’t get you killed in a fight, that is.

“For the hundredth time, no.” Kinzie didn’t even try to look like she was suppressing her eye rolling by this point.

“Ninety-second, actually.” Matt spun idly in his chair as he continued typing.

“Shut it, Miller.” Kinzie turned and opened her mouth, as if to rebuke him when Johnny cut in.

“Both of you shut it!” All motion stopped, save for the gazes of the two computer experts snapping immediately to Johnny. Kinzie’s jaw hung open still while Matt’s chair continued to swivel slightly from left-over momentum. Johnny looked between the two and crossed his arms. “Why the hell can’t you get me in that damn simulation yet? Aren’t you two supposed to be geniuses or somethin’ with this shit?”

The last comment got Kinzie riled into action. She straightened in her seat and half-closed her laptop, before fixing Johnny with a glare that would have withered a lesser man. “Look. You don’t know the half of this shit we’re trying to sort through here. The boss isn’t just off the main grid, like you were. He’s completely off the fucking grid.” She ground her teeth at the last bit, then went back to placid as quickly as she’d snapped. “Besides, it’s not getting you in that’s the problem.”

Johnny, who had been unfazed by the outburst, was caught off guard by her last statement. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. You’re saying you can get me into the boss’s simulation? Why the fuck are we standing around here then? Get me in there!”

Matt cast a sideways glance at Kinzie, who looked annoyed beyond her usual baseline. After studying Johnny intensely for nearly a full minute (and finding that he wasn’t going to back down first), she sighed and slumped back into her chair. “Alright, listen carefully, cause I’m only going to explain all this once. That goes for all of you, too.” The last part was directed at the rest of the crew who had come to investigate the previous yelling match. A few shrugs and some nods were sent her direction. Satisfied, she launched into her explanation in full technical mode.

“When I said the boss was completely off the grid, I wasn’t kidding. Somehow Zinyak has managed to create a connectionless simulation by hosting it within the boss’s subconscious, where he’s also able to manipulate it fully by sending signals that are getting translated into bio-”

“Alright, I get it!” Johnny held up his hands in defeat. “I don’t understand what’s going on, but I just wanna know, can you get me into his simulation?”

Kinzie huffed and crossed her arms. “I was getting there. Jeez. If you’d just shut up and give me a minute to finish, everything would be perfectly clear.” She cleared her throat. “ _Anyways_ , we’re working on mapping the boss’s subconscious signals to a set of virtual addresses in an attempt to be able to send your subconscious signal through a virtual network to an address that corresponds with a particular point in the-”

“What Agent Kensington means is that Zinyak didn’t put his mind into another simulation. Rather, the simulation was put directly into his mind. We’re trying to figure out how to send your mind as a signal to the simulation now planted in his.” Matt scooted his chair away from Kinzie, who looked like she would strangle him at any moment. He stopped once he was out of arm’s reach, knowing she wouldn’t put her laptop in harm’s way by throwing it or jumping after him.

“That’s _exactly_ what I _just_ said.”

Luckily for Matt, Pierce stepped in to remedy the situation. “Whoa, girl. Calm down. No need to get all crazy now, ya know what I’m sayin’? He was just translating for us…um, not so gifted people.”

“Speak for yourself, Mr. Washington.” CID’s subtly grating metallic voice cut through the chaos, hitching and pausing in an inhuman way to denote the human inflections.

Pierce turned towards the levitating eyeball machine. “You’re not even a person! And, by the way, my _father_ was Mr. Washington, playa.”

“Of course. Logic dictates that that would also be your paternal parent’s name, as it is yours. And if I am not a person, then I must, logically, also not be a, playa, as you call it.”

“Ok, I’m gonna show this tin can a thing or two.” Pierce stepped away from the forgotten computer experts, head down and pushing up his sleeves.

“Hey, hey!” Keith jumped between the two. “Let’s all try and be reasonable here.”

It was no use, though, as CID continued to chirp and whir agitatedly in the background. “Go on, attempt to fight me. I was once a warrior.”

“Well you’re a rust bucket now, son.”

“Enough!” Ben’s booming voice quickly brought the situation back under control.

Keith was pinching the bridge of his nose, letting out a long sigh. “My god. How the hell do we function on a day-to-day basis? If losing the president is going to cause this much chaos, we need him back pronto.”

“I was getting to that.” Kinzie had more or less given up and resumed her work, with Matt following suit. “Or I was until _someone_ interrupted me.” While her words sounded harsh, she didn’t even bother to look away from her laptop, giving off an almost bored vibe.

Matt piped up defensively, while still remaining at a cautious distance from Kinzie. “Let’s be honest, here. When it comes to laymen’s terms, I have a bit more experience, and you can’t honestly expect to throw a bunch of technical jargon at these people and have them understand it. No offense.”

Most of the crew just shrugged, while Keith murmured his “None taken” quietly. CID, thankfully kept quiet. Johnny, however, seemed weirdly impatient while being lost in his own thoughts. He had returned to bouncing slightly, snapping out of his semi-trance when Shaundi put a hand on his shoulder.

Kinzie scoffed quietly, though still kept her eyes glued to the screen. “Oh really now? So you’re better at “dumbing it down,” then?” She made quick air quotes to emphasize her point. “Makes sense that you would be.”

“Ouch. I’m almost offended, Agent Kensington. For your information, not everyone has the time or the desire learn about this technical stuff, Asha among them. And I’ve spent years being terrified into learning when it’s appropriate to explain things in a simpler manner, thanks to her.” Matt nodded in a “so there” way and, across the room, Asha came as close as she ever does to face-palming.

“Fine, whatever. You continue, then.” Kinzie, still looking put-out, just leaned closer to her computer to indicate she was finished with the conversation.

Matt, sensing he was out of danger, relaxed back into his chair and scooted closer. He focused on Johnny as he began speaking, knowing he was the most anxious for news. “Alright. As I outlined earlier, there is a way of getting you to the new simulation. However, we’ve yet to do so for a couple of reasons. If you’ll give me a moment, I’ll explain them.” Johnny, who had been about to speak, closed his mouth and nodded.

Matt straightened and took a deep breath, focusing on nothing in particular for a moment. “First of all, as Agent Kensington stated, the simulation is connectionless. Obviously, this means we can’t connect to it. That doesn’t mean, however, that we can’t send or receive anything from it, merely that we cannot establish a stable and continuous link. Instead we just have to give our signals an address, then throw them into the network and hope they reach their destination. Therein lies the problem. We don’t want to ship off your mind and accidentally lose it in the process.” Matt paused and looked around at the expressions ranging from grim to horrified.

Johnny was the first to speak. “Is there anything that can be done about that?”

Matt was positively beaming. “Why, I’m glad you asked. There is, in fact, something we can do, which we are working on now. The whole explanation is unnecessarily long and complex, but the jist of it is that we’re writing code that will ensure that your mind is transported safely. However, that brings us to the second-and now that I think about it-third dilemmas.”

“While getting you there is a simple matter of sending a signal to the simulation, getting you back is not so simple. It requires that we be in control of that simulation before we can send you back and that means we’ll need to hack into the main Zin computer system. That we can do after we’ve sent you, but know that we can’t bring you back until we’ve gained control.”

“That’s fine with me. I’d just rather be in there with the boss than let him suffer through that shit over and over by himself. I know how that feels and it ain’t fun, especially if that Zinyak motherfucker is in there fucking up his memories.” Johnny cracked his knuckles, then crossed his arms. “What was the third problem?”

“Getting _him_ back, actually.” Matt paused, thoughtfully. “Theoretically, once we gain control over the simulation, we should be able to shut it down and disallow any further incoming signals, so that the boss’s mind will be fully under his control again. Then he can just wake up. Mind you, though, that it’ll take even longer to get to that point.”

“As long as I can stay with him ‘til the end.”

Kinzie reawakened from her dead-to-the-world state to chime in. “You’ll need to be out of the simulation before we shut it down, or else your subconsc-I mean, _mind_ ” She shot an annoyed look in Matt’s general direction. “will be erased along with it.”

“But I can stay right up ‘til then, right?” Johnny was focused intently on Kinzie, who squirmed uncomfortably under the intense gaze.

“Yeah. You can stay up until then.”

Johnny nodded once. “Alright then…Thanks you two. Glad we picked up a couple of geniuses while I was gone.”

Matt laughed quietly and ducked his head to hide the red on his cheeks, while Kinzie raised her eyebrows. “You better be glad. Now for the-what was it, Miller? Ninety-second? I don’t even care anymore. Just go somewhere else, all of you so we can finish this. I’ll call you when it’s ready.”

“C’mon, Johnny.” Shaundi held out her hand, which was accepted after a few moments of hesitation. The two of them weaved through the crowd, with Shaundi talking quietly. Keith said a quiet goodbye and pushed Pierce out of the door, Ben following them.

Asha walked past the busy programmers. She stopped to give Matt a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Good luck you two. You’ve got this.” With that, she left and only CID was left in the room.

“Perhaps I could be of assistance?” CID floated closer to the two remaining humans. “I can tap into the main Zin computer system and begin searching for the source of the simulation.

“Brilliant.” Matt motioned him over. “There’s a physical uplink over here you can use. Let us know if you find anything.”

“Affirmative.”

Kinzie eyed CID as he drifted to the indicated spot and connected with it. “I’m surprised to see you so willing to help the boss. You haven’t even made any demands yet.”

CID beeped noncommittally a few times before responding. “Perhaps I have found a kindred warrior spirit. Perhaps I do not wish my fate onto others.” There was a long pause and the programmers thought he had finished speaking. “Perhaps I am waiting for a more tactful time to place my demands for compensation.”

Kinzie and Matt looked at each other and simultaneously rolled their eyes. At least they agreed on something.


	3. Just Don't Kill Each Other

The sound of a clattering chain echoed through parts of the stolen Zin ship, accompanied by dull thuds, emanating from the abused punching bag. Asha was steadily landing blow after blow on the heavy object, causing it to swing wildly one moment and sway rhythmically the next. Unknown to most on the ship, Asha’s eyes were not the windows to her soul. It was her punching bag.

She was sweating slightly and breathing harshly as she pounded out the tempo of her thoughts, intently studying the physical manifestation of her mind. _That idiot!_ An extra hard punch. _Reckless!_ Punch. _Stupid!_ Punch. _Though he is insanely loyal..._ A feinted blow. _To a fault, of course._ Double jab. _I hope he appreciates-_ Punch- _the efforts Kinzie and Matt have put in…_ She bounced in place for a moment. _I hope he appreciates what Matt is feeling right now._ She glared and threw a finishing blow at the bag, hissing between her teeth.

The punching bag rocked violently and Asha caught it with a sigh. “It’s not his fault but… _still_.” Another sigh. “It’s not like I’m worried, but-Oh, _god_.” She took a step back. “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe I actually _miss_ that psychotic,” Punch. “impulsive,” Punch. “troublemaking” Punch. “sociopath!” Asha stopped for a moment, watching as the punching bag swung away from her.

For a moment, the only sound in the room was the chain clinking and the slight squeak from it rubbing on the hook. “Oh, bloody hell.” She made an aggravated noise, just short of a growl, and let loose a barrage of blows on the defenseless training object. The attack culminated in Asha wrenching her arm back, fist clenched, in a much-too-forceful manner, then a throat cleared.

“Er…Asha?” Matt stood on the bottom step, looking extremely uncomfortable. His natural defense instincts told him to flee, screaming, but that’s not what Nyte Blayde would do in this situation. Instead, he pretended to be an invincible vampire and straightened, putting on a brave face. Said “brave face” made Matt look like he was a deer caught in headlights…with a toothache, but he felt better at least.

Asha dropped her stance and caught the battered punching bag as it swung towards her in an attempt to fight back. “Matt, what’s going on?”

“Uh, well, um.” Matt quirked his eyebrow in a totally suave, Nyte Blayde-esque way and Asha found herself suppressing a laugh so as not to further wound the hacker’s (albeit substantial) ego. After he had steadied his voice, Matt continued. “We’re, uh, ready to go up there. I’m just going around to gather everyone.”

Asha shot a surprised glance at Matt. “ _You’re_ going around, gathering everyone?”

“Oh come off it. It’s really not that surprising is it? After all, I was the one who was able to do the explaining earlier. Besides, I just wanted to…stretch my legs a bit?” Matt’s façade crumbled as Asha’s gaze turned suspicious.

“And…?”

“And…” Matt chuckled a bit under his breath. “I kind of wanted to leave CID and Agent Kenzington alone in a room together to see what would happen.” Asha couldn’t help but smile at Matt’s sheepish expression, which couldn’t mask the mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Alright, then. Let’s get the others. Quickly now, or Johnny might explode…or you’ll miss the action.” Matt laughed quietly as he turned and headed back upstairs, Asha close behind. The punching bag hung motionless.

 

-Elsewhere-

 

“For the last time, my answer is ‘no’ and that is final.”

“I am not sure I understand your reasoning, Agent Kensington. According to my calculations, we are extremely compatible in both personality and intelligence. If you have reservations about the fact that my conscious is contained within this metal body-”

“CID. I have reservations about LOTS of facts about you. Now give it up.” Kinzie gritted her teeth and assuaged the oncoming migraine with thoughts of how she was going to make Miller pay for the obvious setup. CID had finally managed to locate the simulation source code buried deep in the Zin network and the hackers had been able to analyze outgoing signals and use them to complete their own work. As soon as they had verified that signals were being received properly, Kinzie had announced that the others should be told.

Of course Matt had chivalrously volunteered to take care of it, so she didn’t have to worry. And, besides, he really needed to “stretch his legs.” Kinzie rolled her eyes wished she had something to work on. Unfortunately, CID was still working on gaining access to the actual code of the simulation. Fortunately, that also meant that he hadn’t done much talking, not that the amount mattered when it came to the supposedly-horny robot.

As it was, though, CID had seeming done as she told him and ceased his attempts at “wooing” her.

 

-Elsewhere-

 

Matt and Asha had already gathered Pierce, Keith, and Ben and the group was in the process of searching for Johnny and Shaundi. The pair was eventually located in the cockpit of the ship. They were sitting across from each other and Shaundi was sharing stories of good times in Steelport, while Johnny half-listened and laughed along.

As soon as they entered, though, Johnny was alert and on his feet again. Matt felt himself freeze up as Johnny approached him, Shaundi following quickly behind. He breathed a sigh of relief when the larger man stopped short of him, seemingly at ease. He even dared relax when Johnny gave a bit of his signature smirk.

“Hey. What’s the news? You guys ready for us up there?”

“Y-yeah.” Matt managed a smile of his own. “CID was able to find the simulation controller and that sped things up a good bit. We don’t have access to the code just yet, so we can’t begin taking over and manipulating the simulation, but we can send you in. It may be dangerous, since we have no control, but…” Matt and Johnny made eye-to-shades contact. “You said you wanted to be in there with him as quickly as possible.”

“Yeah. If you can get me there in one piece, I’ll handle the rest.”

Matt felt a small surge of awe, something akin to the first time he saw Nyte Blayde step on screen. He straightend, a glint of fire coming to his eyes, and reached out to place a hand on Johnny’s shoulder. “Let’s go, brother.”

 

-Elsewhere-

 

Just when Kinzie thought she was finally in the clear, CID chirped up from his corner. “Agent Kensington. It has come to my attention that you prefer a rougher form of copulation than the average human. I find this wonderful both as a warrior and potential lov-”

“Oh. My. _God_ , CID. What is wrong with you? I mean, _clearly_ you haven’t interacted with actual living, breathing people in a while, but-wait a minute. Just…how exactly did it come to your attention that I like rough sex?”

Before CID was able to respond, Kinzie’s brain, used to making logical conclusions based on abstract data, jumped to the “most logical” conclusion. She jumped out of her chair, fury evident on her face. “MILLER! I swear to God this will not be the FBI incident all over again. When he comes back, I’m going to wring his scrawny neck!”

Luckily, CID was then able to jump in to reassure his beloved before she decided to jump the gun and act on her anger, sexy as it might have been to him. “I assure you, Agent Kensington, the source of my information was not Agent Miller.” At this, Kinzie’s shoulders relaxed, though CID continued before she sat.

“My information was gathered personally, as I have been using my idle processors to analyze your actions, in an attempt to find more effective means of wooing you. A moment ago, I discovered the data from when the cameras of the ship were still functional and you accepted your leader’s invitation to, as he said, ‘Fuck.’ Based on your sexual preferences at the time -”

“Stop.”

“Pardon?” CID’s inner mechanisms clicked and whirred as he pondered what joyous reaction Kinzie would have to the good news. Unfortunately for CID, he was quite far from the truth. The hacker’s face had gone white, with the exception of the flames that had ignited in both her cheeks and her eyes.

“Stop talking. Don’t fucking speak. I just can’t-that’s just so-do you have any idea how creepy-you-” Kinzie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “CID. I don’t know much about the society you came from, but here, that's completely unacceptable! I can’t _believe_ what I just heard. You’re even worse than Miller!”

“Agent Kensington, if you are embarrassed about engaging in sexual intercourse with the Saints leader, then I can assure you that there is no need to feel that way. After all, I too, have performed sexual acts for him, upon request.”

At first, it seemed CID’s “assurances” had actually worked to calm Kinzie, though it was a sight much more rare than a calm Kinzie. It was a dumbstruck Kinzie. “I…wow.” Kinzie let the new information sink in. “Well, then. I’m _definitely_ not sleeping with you now tha-whoa, whoa, whoa. I was never going to sleep with you! I don’t care what you say or do…or who else you do or-” Kinzie continued ranting, at times directing her wrath towards CID, Matt, the boss, and no one in particular. CID occasionally pitched in an assurance, adding more fuel to the fire.

It was in this wonderfully chaotic state (typical of any Saints HQ) that the entire gang walked in, anticipating some good news.

In a picture-perfect cut scene, the group would have walked into a solemn atmosphere, everyone wearing a look of grim determination. Johnny would have stepped forward, climbing up into the chair next to the boss, amidst the quiet parting words from the rest of the gang. One of them, maybe Kinzie-no Keith, would have stepped up as the bars were closing.

“Bring back the President. We’re all counting on you.” Of course, Johnny would have replied with something cool, cause he’s Johnny motherfucking Gat and that’s how he rolls. Then he’d nod to the hackers and that’s when Kinzie would come in. She’d turn and type out some random shit while Matt beamed and sent him off with a salute or something. And Johnny would lay back and close his eyes. Mission Start, fuckers.

Instead, the first thing that happened was Pierce having to restrain Kinzie before she dismantled CID with one of Matt’s screwdrivers. “Yo, girl. Calm down. I know he’s pain in the ass, but don’t we kind of, ya know, _need_ him to finish gettin into the simulation?”

“No! Screw him, I’ll do it myself. Now let me go, so I can erase his memory banks!” Shaundi ran to join the fray and the next several minutes were spent attempting to calm Kinzie down to a somewhat more manageable temperament.

Johnny went to lean against the chair next to the boss and watched the antics with a vague curiosity. He figured this was just a culmination of the nerves from the situation. Once everyone blew off some steam, they would be able to work together better, increasing the chances of success. Hell, even he and the boss had to throw a few punches sometimes to get back in sync (not that they ever actually hit each other).

Kinzie shouted another vaguely directed threat and Johnny swore he heard someone laugh. Off to the side, he noticed Matt snickering into his hand, while Asha looked on with a mock-stern expression. / _Ah. The culprit._ / Johnny smirked and allowed his thoughts to drift back to more light-hearted times, relatively speaking.

When he returned to the real world, everything was back to business as usual. Everyone was still bickering, but it was friendly bickering, with glares and dirty looks at the worst. Most importantly, everyone was working.

Kinzie was typing at one of the many computers in the room with Matt looking over her shoulder. At one point, Matt pointed out something on the screen, only to have his hand quickly slapped away. A few more agonizingly slow minutes had drifted by when Matt turned around and gave a thumbs up.

“Good to go.”

Johnny heaved a sigh of relief. “Finally. Let’s do this shit.” He turned and hopped up into the chair. Not the picture-perfect cut scene, but he’ll take it. He relaxed as the bars closed around his torso. A glance told him everyone was watching intently. Johnny smirked. “Don’t lose me…ya know, _again_.” Eyes slid closed and he felt his mind being pulled away. / _I’m coming, boss. I hope you’re ready to fuck shit up._ /


	4. A Stroll Down Memory Lane

It was dark. There was no tunnel of light guiding Johnny to his destination, just overwhelming blackness and the sensation that he was hurtling through it faster than he cared to know. He tried shutting his eyes, opening them wide, squinting even, but still Johnny could discern nothing to orient himself by. It wasn’t long before the feeling of vertigo set in.

Oh good, just in time to dump his dizzy ass in the middle of a paved street. Johnny stumbled a bit and snapped his eyes shut, the sudden explosion of light and color (well, gray) shooting pain from his eyes up to his temples. He felt his left hand and knee come into contact with the ground and slowly looked up to see something he hadn’t in years.

Stilwater, in all its run-down glory. More accurately, he was staring down a line of houses, all in equally shitty condition. The paint was faded and peeling on most of them and the yards were yellowing in places and dirt in others. Everything looked like someone had turned the brightness down and the contrast up on some giant monitor, but that’s just how he remembered it.

“Wow.” Johnny stood and spun around slowly, taking it all in. The all-too-familiar sights, sounds, and smells assaulted him from every angle in a rush as his mind fully loaded into the simulation. He held still to allow himself to adjust to the sensory overload.

“Oh, good. You did make in.” Kinzie’s voice came out of nowhere and Johnny’s initial reaction was to look at the sky for the source, dragging a forceful sigh from Kinzie. “Why does everyone have to look up?”

Johnny smirked. “Would you prefer they looked down like they expected you to crawl up from hell?” The sound of Matt laughing was abruptly cut off when Kinzie let up on the microphone button. There were a few moments of silence before the mic came back on.

“The angel, Agent Kensington-” Matt snorted and snickered. Somewhere in the background an annoyed Kinzie told him to can it. “Anyways, Agent Kensington has stepped away for a moment to catch her breath after falling from such a great height.” There was a thud that sounded suspiciously like a heavy boot being thrown. “Hold your position for a minute while I check to ensure you actually made it in one piece.”

“Sure. Should I ‘assume the position’?” Johnny put his hands up and behind his head, a gesture second-nature to a man who gets patted down for weapons on a regular basis. He smirked when Matt chuckled again, thinking back to Asha’s quick whisper.

 

-Earlier-

 

Just before the group had entered into the chaotic computer room, Asha had fallen back and caught Johnny’s arm. “A moment if you will.” Shaundi had given her a funny look, but continued on when Johnny nodded. Asha glanced ahead to make sure nobody was listening and leaned in, lowering her voice further. “I don’t know if you care, but I want you to know something because it’s important to me.”

“Aight. Shoot.”

“Matt is a lot more distraught about this situation than he lets on. Maybe even as much as you are. I do not care to speculate why, but I do worry for him. If…if there’s anything you could possibly do to reassure him…” Asha trailed off, looking up at Johnny with the hanging question in her eyes.

Johnny mulled over Asha’s words as he watched Matt give everyone a status update before he opened the doors. He’d noticed that Matt had really started to look up to the boss, like everyone eventually does. But Matt had really grown attached to the boss and, recently, to Johnny as well.

Johnny nodded again to Asha and flashed one of his patented reassuring smiles. “Yo, girl. Don’ worry about it. I got dis.” What could he say? The kid had grown on him. And the relieved look Asha gave him was a nice bonus.

 

…

 

“Aaaaaaaaand…done.” Matt’s voice brought Johnny back to the present. “Oh good. Everything seems to be intact.”

“Well, of course it is Miller. I wrote the signal checksum logic myself.” Kinzie’s voice sounded normal again, indicating that she had already finished repressing her anger.

“Well, thank god for that. I’d hate to have gotten in here and be missin’ something, ya know what I’m sayin’?” Johnny gave a meaningful glance downwards, dropping his arms back down to his sides. “So, where’s the boss?” He was met with utter silence.

“Well, jeez. Don’t all answer at once, now.” Johnny might have rolled his eyes, but the world will never know because of his iconic shades. That…and it got blown up.

“Umm. Locating the boss is something we’re still working on.” Kinzie seemed hesitant as she spoke.

“So, you don’t know.”

“Basically, yeah.”

Johnny’s eyebrows knitted together. “Weren’t you two watching him earlier? Can’t you just describe where he is and let me find it?”

“Yeah, so…the thing is that he’s not living the simulation. He’s just kind of…um, watching it, by which I mean he has an avatar somewhere in the simulation, but it’s not moving around and acting out the memory.”

Before Johnny could respond, Matt spoke up. “CID just cracked the firewall to get to the core execution files, so he’s in the process of decompiling it now. Once Agent Kenzington and I get our hands on that, we’ll be able to provide more assistance. As of right _now_ , though…we can only use the information we gather from packet sniffing and watching you interact with the simulation.”

For a moment, Johnny looked shocked and Matt and Kinzie were afraid he was going to rage and do something stupid. But their fears were quickly erased when he looked up and spoke again. “Did you just make a drug reference, kid?”

The sound of a slap spoke of the immense facepalm Kinzie pulled, while Matt tried desperately to hold in his snickering. “No that’s-oh my god-I meant analyzing the messages-ha ha ha-sent to and from the simulation. It’s a form of network snooping.”

“Ah, uh, right.” Johnny rubbed the back of his neck and shifted his weight around, attempting to alleviate some of the nervous energy building inside of him. “Alright, then. I’m gonna start looking around. Maybe I’ll bump into ‘im or somethin’.”

“Unfortunately, that’s our best bet for now. He’ll probably be close to the path the memory takes, though, since Zinyak is kind of an asshole.” Johnny found himself quietly agreeing with Kinzie. “Once I gain access, I can pin down his location for sure.”

“You mean ‘we’.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever, Matt. _We_.”

Ben cut in as the tech geeks began bickering half-heartedly in the background. “Hey, mothafucka. Good luck out there. We’re all here, watching.”

Johnny chuckled. “So, ‘don’t screw up’, huh?”

“Frankly, it’s a nice relief to see ol’ Stilwater again. Even if it is just the shitty suburbs. Plus, who knows, maybe something noteworthy will happen that I can put into my next book.”

“Heh. Right.” Johnny looked around again, reorienting himself with his childhood home. He recognized the intersection and began heading in the direction that would take him past the boss’s old house and to the local church. As he started walking, Shaundi joined the conversation.

“Please be careful, Johnny.”

“Relax, Shaundi. Everything will be fine. I promise.” She didn’t respond, so Johnny let it drop as well. After all, it’s not like he actually died last time, right?

After a few minutes of wandering down familiar, beaten-up roads, Johnny was met with a hopeful sight. There were a few simulation kids throwing a ball of some sort across several lawns. “Finally, a sign of life. Maybe now I can get some answers.”

“Oh! Good idea.” Matt chimed in as if on cue. “They’re bound to have seen the boss. He does cut quite a memorable figure.”

“Exactly.” Johnny jogged over to the group. “Hey, kids!” There was no acknowledgement from any of the children. “Yo! Twerps!” Still nothing. Aggravated, Johnny jumped in front of one of the boys just as the ball came soaring towards them. “Hey, I’m lookin’ for some-” Johnny was cut off with a gasp as the boy ran forward-no, phased the fuck _through_ Johnny-to catch the ball.

Johnny spun around, shocked at this new turn of events. “Well, shit.” Rubbing the back of his neck, he looked up slightly. “Any comments?”

Kinzie, of course, was quick to chime in. “Well…obviously it seems that the inhabitants of the simulation are both intangible and oblivious to you, which means they probably are for the boss too.”

Surprisingly, Pierce was the one brave enough to cut her off. “Which makes sense, when you think about it. I mean, he does kinda make a habit of runnin’ around and makin’ a mess of simulations when he can actually interfere with ‘em, ya know?”

Johnny cocked an eyebrow. “No shit, Pierce. Ya don’t fucking say.”

“Hey man! I’m not the one rehashing the obvious up here. Jeez, I swear every time…” Johnny smirked as Pierce continued ranting in the background.

“Pierce. Seriously, dude. I was just givin’ ya shit.”

“Oh. Uh, yeah. Yeeeeaaaaaah. Right. I know. I was just playin’ along for, uh, you know…dramatic effect.”

“Right…So what else you guys got? Anything?”

Matt spoke up unexpectedly. “Try touching a tree.”

“Uh, what?” Johnny scanned the surrounding area. “A tree?”

“Er…well, or a house or something. Just because the people in the simulation are intangible doesn’t mean the structures are. Try touching one to see if you just phase through it or not.”

“Uh-huh. Right. I’ll go…touch something.” Johnny moved towards the closest house. “Is this gonna actually tell you anything?” He hovered his hand just over the wall, before pressing the flat of his palm against it. Well, that felt pretty solid. He pressed against the tattered siding. Still not falling through. Cool.

“Huh. If you aren’t falling through it, then that means there must be some special code for making the denizens of this particular simulation intangible. It’s probably just a modification from the original simulation code, so we could, theoretically, turn it off once we get into the code.”

“That’s a lot of ‘probably’s’.”

Matt floundered a bit, trying to piece together an explanation. Fortunately, Kinzie stepped in before the train wreck caused any casualties. “Basically, we’re still guessing at this point. Yeah, we don’t know for sure what’s going to happen, but we’ve got a pretty good idea. So just trust us, alright?”

Johnny nodded, leaning again the wall. “Yeah. That’s kinda my only choice in here. Just let me know once you get your hands on some solid information out there, yeah.”

“Roger that. And how’s that for laymen’s explanation, Miller?” Kinzie’s smug expression was all too easy for Johnny to picture.

“Agent Kinzengton, I can’t believe what I just heard…You said ‘we’!”

It was Kinzie’s turn to flounder as Johnny attempted to contain his laughter and continued towards his original destination. Several more minutes of avoiding potholes and cracked concrete passed before Johnny stopped.

He turned to his left and looked over up the walkway of a shabby two-story. The mic crackled to life. “Johnny? Is something wrong?”

“Nah. Nothin’s wrong, Shaundi. I’m just here.”

“Uh…Johnny, my man, where _exactly_ is ‘here’?”

Johnny swept his arm out, gesturing towards the house. It wasn’t any better or worse than its neighbors; completely unextraordinary, in fact. But Johnny knew the truth: that this house contained a legend in its own right, hidden behind fading paint and creaky porch steps. “Welcome to the boss’s house.”

“What? No way, man! I don’t think I can believe that the boss ever lived in a regular house in the ‘burbs.”

Johnny shrugged, dropping his arm and hesitating. “Believe it, Pierce. The boss is actually a human being, too.”

“Shit. Guess I owe King twenty bucks now.”

“I can’t believe you actually thought the President wasn’t human. And why did you wager twenty with King and only ten with me?” Keith actually sounded indignant at that last part, something rare for the trained politician.

Ben’s deep-voiced laughed boomed in the background. “I’ve still got a bit of my negotiating skills from my gang days. I guess it just makes me more convincing. Remind me and I’ll teach you sometime, playa’.”

Back in the simulation, Johnny had moved onto the front lawn and was staring up at an open window on the second floor. “I don’t really know what he did that day, but I assume he started from here.” His observation was met with expectant silence. Once again, Johnny found himself an insight into the boss’s life.

“Well, the window’s opened, so his younger self is probably long gone. Just in case…” Trailing off, Johnny took two quick strides, used the porch post to hop up, and caught the edge of the roof jutting out under the window. He pulled himself up deftly and walked over to peer inside.

“Yeah. No sign of him here, younger or current. He must be on his way already.” Just then, Johnny got a glance at the clock in the room. 1:14 pm, mere moments before the fight would start.

“Oh, shit. His younger self is already at the church, and he’s probably there with him.” He spun around and jumped back to the ground, then sprinted towards the scene of the fight. Johnny Gat was not going to let his boss and friend relive his nightmare even once more. Not if he could help it.


	5. Search and...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone wants to know what my Saints Row boss looks like, a few pictures of him can be found here:
> 
> http://s846.photobucket.com/user/Nakiruna/library/Saints%20Row

Johnny’s mind raced, setting his pace over the well-worn pavement. His thoughts were fleeting as images of the fight became intermixed with potential endings that could have just as easily occurred, had he been in a different mood that day. Small surges of panic sparked larger surges of adrenaline, which, in turn, spurred Johnny on at a sprint.

Of course he still kept his wits about him. He was Johnny motherfucking Gat, after all. Rather than letting panic completely cloud his mind, Johnny stayed clear-headed enough to keep an eye out for the current boss or anything else seemingly out of place.

Unfortunately, fortunately, or inconsequentially, nothing stood out to Johnny and there was no boss (of any age) to be found. He was soon able to feel a moment’s relief, though, when he reached the parking lot of a somewhat tall, but otherwise unremarkable, building. Nothing more than a concrete rectangle with a small parking lot and blue double doors.

“This is it. The church where we fought. Can anyone see what’s goin’ on up there?” Johnny scrutinized the roof, trying to catch a glimpse of something, anything.

Pierce, of course, offered up some input, though it was tragically unhelpful as per usual. “Damn playa. That sure don’t look like any church I’ve seen. Johnny, you sure you’re in the right place, man?”

Johnny’s features were expertly schooled as he continued watching the railing that ran around the edge of the roof. “Pierce.”

“Yeah, man?”

“Go fuck yourself.”

Kinzie was quick to jump in, urgency negating any snarky attitude she might exhibit under regular circumstances. “The younger versions of you and the boss are fighting. I’m not sure yet, but since you’ve gotten closer our receivers have been picking up another signal that might be the boss.”

At that moment, Johnny caught a glimpse of a leg kicking out over the railing and felt a sickening lead weight in his stomach. “Crap. I gotta get up there. Now!” He slammed through the doors and took an immediate right, launching himself up the staircase at the end of the hall. Johnny took the steps two at a time, knowing the fight was almost at an end and hopeful that he’d find the Saint’s boss before he reached it.

“Funny. You two seem to be drawn to churches. Or maybe that’s just gangs in general? I think some research into associations between gangs and religion may be in order, after this is all over, I mean.”

Ben’s booming rambling was just what Johnny needed to break the tunnel vision threatening to invade his mind. Probably intentional; Ben could be pretty perceptive at times…you know, for an asshole. Johnny had to admit: Ben was right about the church thing, but the thought was quickly pushed to the back of his mind.

Johnny anxiously focused ahead, looking for the door to the roof. As he ran around and around, ascending the fifteen flights of steps in record time, he mentally prepared himself for what he would find at the top.

He wasn’t prepared for that.

“Oh, fuck.” The words left Johnny’s mouth on their own, more of a subconscious expression of horror than an actual assessment of the situation. Acting on instinct, he launched forward reaching for…the boss? Himself? It didn’t really matter when he passed through both of them.

Johnny spun around just in time to see his younger self pull the trigger. If he heard a bang, it didn’t even register. All he could focus on was the look of shock painted across the very familiar, if much younger, face of his boss. And the blood spilling down his forehead as he crumpled.

Faintly, Johnny heard the collective reactions from the computer room on the ship. However, he zeroed in on one reaction in particular. A muffled cry that was achingly close to a sob, hidden in a leather glove. _Well…crap. Sorry Asha._

The scene flickered and suddenly, there was no more boss and no more blood. Johnny’s younger self was leaning slightly over the railing, smoking a cigarette. Johnny was overcome with the urge to punch the smug asshole. The extremely fresh memory of his previous attempt to interfere reminded him that it was futile and he found himself pissed off instead.

“Damnit!” Johnny slammed his fist down on the railing. All at once, the adrenaline was gone and the effects of the marathon sprint replaced it. Feeling exhausted, Johnny turned and slumped against the railing. He rubbed his hands under his face, pushing them under his sunglasses to rub at his eyes.

“Damnit...” It was barely more than a tired sigh the second time, though still fraught with emotion. Johnny retracted his hands from his face and buried them in his pockets instead. Jaw tight, he stared up at the few clouds in the sky and tried to recover from what he had just seen.

The computer room was quiet, everyone still shocked at what they had witnessed, regardless of the fact that it was a fucking fake scene painted in binary by one marked-for-death asshole and his legion of programmers. A scraping noise snapped Johnny out of his haze. The sound of metal on concrete dragged his attention to the right, where, at long last, Johnny saw the leader of the Third Street Saints.

Self-assured. Commanding. Infectious personality. Wild determination. Nothing of the sort was to be seen in the normally borderline insane man. The boss sat on a raised concrete ledge with his right knee pulled up to his chest, foot resting on the edge. He wore his usual type of clothing: full suit, dress shoes, and his favorite long overcoat. Though he looked the part, his demeanor was almost the opposite of what one would expect from the boss.

The boss’s arm was draped over his right knee, forehead resting against his forearm. His eyes were downcast and Johnny wasn’t sure whether the boss had noticed him yet. He approached cautiously, either to keep from startling the other man or to convince himself said other man was real. He wasn’t sure which.

Johnny stopped short and was hit again with the same lead weight in his stomach when he realized what the scraping sound had been. A tally mark. One of more than he cared to count. The boss was running his thumb over the bottom edge of his pocket knife’s handle, which was clutched too tightly in his hand.

“ ‘Ello Johnny.”

“Boss.” Johnny Gat was not one to get overemotional, past the point of functioning. Even when that brat, Shogo, had interrupted Aisha’s funeral, Johnny had enough control over his emotions to kick his little bitch ass and bury him alive. Now, though, Johnny was stuck. Too relieved to be worried and too worried to be relieved.

The following moment of silence stretched on and on, into awkwardness and back out, until the boss lifted his head. His face, usually pale, was even paler with maybe a hint of sickly green. It was an odd combination that made his dark freckles stand out harshly. The stubble along his jaw, chin, and upper lip was more prominent than usual, but his hair remained gelled back into its typical neatness.

Brown eyes studied Johnny intently, effectively putting an end to his emotional deadlock. He noticed the bandage on the bridge of the boss’s nose beginning to peel slightly. The boss’s shoulders tensed, but his scrutinizing gaze didn’t waver as Johnny carefully smoothed the bandage back into place.

Another awkward silence was beginning to form when the boss relaxed his shoulders and softened his gaze. “So, you are real?”

“Yeah. Volunteered to come rescue your ass. I mean, you pulled me outta a crappy simulation, figured I’d return the favor, ya know?” Amusement passed through the boss’s eyes momentarily, fading as quickly as it appeared. He was cut off before he could respond again.

“Boss! You’re ok!”

“You had us worried, man.”

“I seriously hope you take a page from this experience, Mr. President.”

“Hey, muthafucka, I’m sure you’re relieved to have us all on your side, huh.”

“I’m glad you’re alright.”

The boss, wearily listening to the celebratory commotion in the ship’s computer room, gave a quick half-smile when he heard Matt’s quiet, relief-filled statement. “Not really what I’d call alright, but…thanks everyone.”

The boss’s eyes glanced down at the tally marks scratched into the concrete, Johnny’s own following contemplatively. “Jesus. You been stuck up here this whole time, just waiting to watch the fight over and over?”

The boss gave a humorless chuckle, mouth staying fixed in a frown. He glanced sideways at Johnny without raising his head. “Well, I don’t have to be stuck here this whole time, but I can’t stray very far from the path my younger self took that day and I also can’t stay behind anywhere once my younger self has left. So, no point in following a depressed, angry teen around if I don’t have to, eh?”

He returned his gaze once again to the tally marks, eyebrows raising. “Besides, my path to get here never changes. At least I get some variety watching the fight. I swear Zinyak’s got a group of programmers dedicated solely to adding more and more twisted endings to this fucked up version of my memories…” The boss furrowed his eyebrows and tightened his jaw.

“Never been the same twice.” The words came out barely more than a whisper, but Johnny heard him. The pocket knife clattered as it fell from the boss’s grip, his hand coming up to rest over his mouth. The boss’s eyes shut and he looked like he was trying to will himself into forgetting, to repress all the bad endings he’d seen.

Johnny didn’t even stop to wonder why something so obviously wrong and fake had affected the Saint’s boss so badly; he already knew. Loyalty. Arguably, the boss was a sociopath: no morals, no remorse. But that wasn’t all true. Deep down, loyalty was the one value that the boss held on to.

Loyalty meant respect and trust. Loyalty was what he silently promised his crew and silently expected in return. Loyalty was why he’d saved Shaundi and Viola in Steelport. Loyalty was why he could never forgive Julius after his betrayal. Loyalty was both the thing that grounded him and the base that he built his relationships from, his friendship with Johnny being the oldest and most valued.

And here Zinyak was fucking with it. Taking the very moment when Johnny and the boss first found that mutual respect for each other and desecrating it. Showing, instead, all the ways that it could have gone wrong; all the ways that Johnny could have betrayed him. That was what shook the boss to his core: not dying or losing, but seeing his strongest feelings of loyalty betrayed – in an infinite number of ways.

Just the thought made Johnny clench his fists in rage, but also sparked the ghosts of old feelings of protectiveness. He felt their echoes from the few memories he had of the boss ever truly being hurt. Reaching down, Johnny carefully lifted the boss’s chin.

“Hey.” The boss dropped his hand and opened his eyes. “S’all good now, alright. _I’m_ here, Boss, _me_ : the _real_ Johnny motherfuckin Gat, who’d sooner eat a fuckin bullet than betray you. So, fuck Zinyak. He’s an asshole, but his mind games aren’t gonna work, cause that’s all they are: mind games, yeah? We’ll kick his sorry ass even harder now.”

“Here, here! – Ouch!”

“Now’s not the time, Miller.”

The boss snorted and cracked a genuine smile, still looking tired. "Yeah, you’re right. Let’s get the bloody hell outta here. I’ve ‘ad enough of my own mind for a while.” He stood. “Beam us out, Kinzie.” There was a brief moment of silence, which then ended anticlimactically.

“Er…99% decompiled?”

“The hell’s _that_ supposed to mean?” The boss looked up at the nothingness in the sky.

“First of all, I’M NOT IN THE SKY. Second, CID’s still in the process of translating the simulation you two are in into viable code we can actually study. And third…we…don’t actually know how to pull you two back, yet.” Kinzie sounded sheepish by the end of her explanation, partly from not knowing something and partly from having to admit so out loud.

The boss put his hands up in a ‘stop’ motion and turned to Johnny. “Wait a minute, wait a minute. Did you know about this?”

Johnny smirked and shrugged. “Yeah. Course I knew about it.”

“You’re telling me you jumped into this god-awful simulation willingly, knowing there was no way to get back?”

“Look.” Johnny sighed, rubbing his neck and rolling his shoulder. “I was gonna come rescue you anyways. What difference does it make if they hadn’t figured out how to get us outta here yet? I wasn’t gonna leave you to suffer here alone. Besides, they’re smart enough. I’m sure they’ll figure it out in no time.”

“Aww…thank you, Johnny.” Matt sounded exceedingly pleased at the half-compliment.

The boss sighed and leaned against the concrete ledge, but, before he could respond, the door to the roof flew open. Both men turned to see a shorter, paler, younger version of the boss come tumbling through, looking like he’d also sprinted up the stairs. “Strewth. Here we go again.”

The younger version of Johnny Gat turned his head enough to see what the disturbance was. Seeing the familiar face of the boy he’d branded as an ‘annoying runt’ intrigued him. He turned slowly and brought his cigarette to his lips, where he took a long drag.

The younger boss noticed Johnny as the bigger boy exhaled a long stream of smoke. He froze in place, wearily eyeing the roof’s other (visible) occupant. Everything was dead silent, which was a terrible pun as most of the onlookers were recalling the memory of the boy with a bullet in his head crumpling. For a second, the vibrations of atoms could almost be heard, then younger Johnny broke the silence.

“Yo, freckle dork. The hell you doin’ here?”

Shaundi wasted no time in voicing the thought that everyone immediately had. “Freckle dork? Seriously, Johnny? I don’t even know where to begin on that one.”

“Nowhere. It was meant to be a childish insult. I didn’t care enough at the time to actually insult him, just wanted to ruffle some feathers-”

“Which it did. And it was also the regular go-to insult to get me riled up. He didn’t make it up on the spot.” Jonny rolled his shoulder again, shooting the boss an apologetic look. The boss, just rubbed his face and continued looking on at the scene.

By that time the two boys had gotten closer to each other, practically in each other’s faces. The younger boss, being significantly shorter than younger Johnny, did an impressive job of maintaining the semblance of equal grounds, despite being literally looked down on. The argument had continued on, unnoticed until that point.

“Bugger off, I’m older than you, bastard.” The younger boss was irate at that point in the fight, clearly nearing the breaking point of his temper. Of course, that didn’t bother younger Johnny in the least. To him the kid was small fry, age be damned. He smirked and exhaled another stream of smoke, directly into the younger boss’s face. And that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

It also bloodied younger Johnny’s nose. He had been caught off-guard when the shorter boy’s fist connected with his nose, dropping his cigarette and even taking a half step back. But he recovered quickly. Younger Johnny’s smirk turned deadly as he was dropped into his element: a fight.

“Oh yeah? You want a fight, you got one.” Various kicks and punches were thrown, dodged and blocked. Each boy held his own in savage looking fight.

Nervous, Johnny continuously glanced over to gauge the boss’s reactions to the scene. He seemed fine, for now, but Johnny knew that wouldn’t last. He didn’t want to see another tally mark on the concrete.

“Matt, Kinzie. How’s the…progress going?”

Matt spoke up quickly and there was a flurry of typing sounds in the background. “Decompiled and we’re working to find something to stop this as fast as we can. CID has linked himself to the – damn, almost made an off-by-one error – simulation so that any changes we make to the code can be compiled and applied to take effect immediately. The problem is – Agent Kensington, how do you feel about debugging dynamic threads?”

“Love it. Send it over.”

Bee-beep. “Sent.”

Ding. “Thanks.”

“Thank _you_. Ahem. As I was saying, the problem is that there are several potential options, but they all require completely different rewrites.”

“Not to sound ungrateful for your current efforts, but I really don’ want the boss to be tortured any more than he has to be-” This earned him an appreciative look from said boss. “-ya know, even if I am here.”

“Not to worry Johnny. We all want the same, as well.” Was that…bravado in Matt’s voice? Johnny glanced over to the boss again to see a glimmer of tender affection hinted in the boss’s eyes and the corners of his lips.

The moment was broken by a collective gasp of the non-busy onlookers. The two men in the simulation spun to see younger Johnny’s fist colliding with the younger boss’s face. Hard. The younger boss was actually knocked off his feet and landed sprawled.

He sat up, dazed, and blood poured onto his white shirt, dripping from both his nose and mouth. He pushed himself back to his feet, quickly regaining his composure. The younger boss then turned his head and spat out the excess blood that had pooled in his mouth and resumed glaring at younger Johnny, who ran a hand under his own nose.

“Still got fight in ya, huh? Don’ act tough if you can’t back it up, kid.”

“Who the hell says I can’t? And don’t call me a fucking ‘kid’, Johnny. I’m older than you, asshole.”

“Yeah, yeah. I fuckin’ heard ya the first time, Freckle Dork. Like a broken record. And lemmie tell ya, that shit gets old real fast.”

“Oh yeah? Well, so does yours.” The fight resumed with its previous fervor, but the air around the older versions of the fighters grew tense. The end of the fight was coming, and with it, a new horrible ending.

“Any closer to stopping this, you two?” Johnny found himself tempted to try to restrain the two fighting boys, despite knowing it wouldn’t work. The boss had backed up to the cement ledge and had a white-knuckled grip on the edge of it.

Kinzie chimed in this time. “Almost there. We found the code that’s limiting memory projection and range. We’re trying to disable it, but it’ll take a few minutes.”

“Alright. I assume that means we’ll be able to just walk away, which is awesome. But, we don’t have a few minutes before this is over.” As if to accentuate Johnny’s point, the fight entered its final stage.

The younger boss landed another hit. He managed a kick to the stomach, which severely pissed younger Johnny off. In a couple of smooth, well-calculated movements, younger Johnny managed to catch one of his opponent’s arms and one of his legs. Lifting, the younger boss was soon slung across younger Johnny’s broad shoulders.

He walked over to the rail at the edge of the roof and turned so he could dump the smaller boy over the edge. Realizing what was about to happen, the younger boss struggled to get free. Unfortunately, there was only one way he was going to be able to free his arm because of the way he was being carried.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, the younger boss reached down and pulled his trapped arm back until a sickening pop was heard. Now dislocated at the shoulder, the younger boss’s arm could be maneuvered to slip from younger Johnny’s grasp. He half jumped, half fell to the ground, stumbling and landing on his knees.

There it was. The scene Johnny had described in the computer room mere hours before. The boss clutching his shoulder, bleeding everywhere. Johnny watching him with disbelief and interest. It was about to change, though. The door to the roof opened again and two more boys, also in their mid-late teens, stepped onto the roof. The primarily yellow jackets gave away their identity.

“Crushers.”


	6. ...Rescue?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The boxes later in the chapter are supposed to be glitched-looking text, but I couldn't get it to display properly when I uploaded it. They are meant to show that the voice is skewed and can't be understood. Apologies for any inconvenience.
> 
> -Naki

“Yeah…who could forget their ugly mugs?” The boss eyed the two boys closing in on his younger self with reservation. He shifted uncomfortably. “Kinzie, Matt, can’t you just-oh, I don’t know-comment that section out or something?”

“This simulation is being streamed directly into your subco- mind, boss. We’re making changes to it while it’s running. If we screw something up and crash it, there’s a high possibility that we could lose your signal…or Johnny’s, or…both.”

“And that would be…”

“Bad. Like, you’d be vegetables, bad.”

“Thought so.”

“Don’t worry, though. Matt and I are being extra careful. We’ve set up a test stream to run solutions on first and we’re running one now.”

“Great. Thanks, Kinzie.” Though the boss seemed sincere, his voice and look spoke highly of the desire to abscond the fuck out of there as quickly as possible.

“Yo, Johnny. This squirt buggin’ ya?” One of the goonish boys had stepped up to the younger boss, looking excited at the prospect of beating the shit out of him. He smirked. “We’ll take care of him for ya.” The other boy cracked his knuckles.

Off to the side, Johnny was quietly hoping the familiar scene would remain familiar, for the sake of the grim-faced man next to him. The boss mentally prepared himself for the deviation he knew was coming. It was made easier by the presence of his old friend; a reminder that he shouldn’t let Zinyak’s screwing around in his head get to him.

Younger Johnny pulled out another cigarette and stuck it between his teeth. “Sure.” He lit the stick and turned. “He isn’t worth my time, anyways.”

“Fuck you, Gat.” The younger boss threw a glare at his back and turned to face the new threat. His older counterpart simply let out an exasperated huff of breath before turning to watch the unmoving suburbs spread around the building. Simply put, he was so done with this shit.

Johnny was tempted to turn away as well, but found himself transfixed by the scene and the phantom guilt it caused. The younger boss had dropped into the best defensive position he could, considering his left arm was pretty much useless. The thugs had gotten on either side of him and cut off any potential escape routes. They were grinning like assholes.

Back in the computer room, the tension was palpable as the two hackers raced to change the simulation before it got any worse. Everyone else was gathered close and holding their breath. They all knew how it felt, experiencing gruesome, distorted versions of their memories. Sure, everyone wanted to know more about their enigmatic leader, but not like this.

Shaundi hid her face in Pierce’s chest and Keith crossed his arms tensely. Ben adjusted his glasses and Asha resisted the urge to put a hand on Matt’s shoulder. CID remained quiet and used his ample processor power to run modified code through the test stream.

Sixteen floors above the ‘burbs of Stilwater, Johnny stood glaring and feeling distinctly pissed off at the simulation of his younger self and wanted to punch the smug bastard. Since he couldn’t, younger Johnny got a reprieve and simply returned to smoking and leaning over the railing. A hissing laugh drew Johnny’s attention as the first Crusher drew back his arm for a punch.

“Got it!”

“Ow!” The sound came from a different direction than Johnny had been anticipating. He turned his head to see the boss put a hand to his temple.

The scene flickered. “Yo, Johnny. This squirt buggin’ ya?”

“Blimey, you two. Careful with all that bangin’ around in my head, yeah?” The boss rubbed his temple to assuage the splitting pain he’d felt a moment before.

“Sorry about that, but you’ll find it was a necessary evil. Take a look!” Matt sounded pleased with whatever had just been done. The boss and Johnny turned their attention back to the reset scene.

Once again, the two Crushers were looking to younger Johnny expectantly. He pulled out a cigarette and stuck it between his teeth. The boss tensed. “Nah, we’re good here. Beat it.”

“What?” The yellow-clothed eyesores watched dumbstruck as younger Johnny calmly lit the stick.

“You heard me.” Younger Johnny stepped forward. In the process, he placed his hand on the younger boss’s good shoulder and pushed him back, effectively moving to stand in front of the smaller boy. Now in his fellow gang member’s face, he pointed to the roof door. “I said leave.”

The two highly confused boys made a quick exit-not nearly so powerful when their stingers are removed, eh? Younger Johnny exhaled smoke slowly, shaking his head at the pathetic antics as he watched them disappear through the heavy door.

“Alright, I’ll bite. What just happened?” The boss relaxed slightly, watching the scene play out like he remembered.

Matt’s voice broke in again. “Perfection just happened! The code we modified was restricting both projection and range. But we also found that it was linked to the code that was distorting your memories. In short, the simulation can now show you anything in your mind, without the nasty changes! Not sure how far you can travel from the simulation of yourself, but you aren’t stuck to that building anymore, at least.”

“Finally, that’s certainly a hell of a lot better than before. Why did it show this again, though?”

Johnny shrugged. “Must have been on your mind at the time.” He watched the boss from the corner of his eye.

“Yeah.” A wry smile. “Nice to see it put proper. We’re still stuck, though?”

“Er…yes. Until then, just…go with the flow I guess? Might take some getting used to, but you can kind of control it now.” After a pause, Kinzie clarified. “It’ll only pull memories, though.”

“Brilliant.” The boss wasn’t too keen on that last point, but it beat the alternative.

The sound of an engine revving drew attention back to the simulation. In the middle of the roof, younger Johnny turned back to face the younger boss. Said boss was still very much on high alert and was wearily regarding his opponent. When the other boy stepped up to the rail, he stepped back, not wanting to be cornered and tossed over.

“Relax, will ya? Here.” After a moment of quick pocket searching, younger Johnny produced a piece of cloth that looked suspiciously like a folded handkerchief, which he then held it out in an offering of peace. “Put some pressure on that nose. It’ll hurt like a bitch, but the blood’ll stop gushing outta your face.”

Tentatively, the younger boss accepted the cloth and, after deciding that it was probably not full of chloroform, pressed it to his nose. “Tanks.” It was muffled, nasally, and guarded, but civil. After a few minutes of silent scrutiny, he pressed his luck. “So, wat da hell was tat?”

When younger Johnny shot him an amused look, the younger boss removed the handkerchief from his face, scowling. Younger Johnny studied the boy for a moment. “I was impressed.”

The younger boss snorted, which was an insanely bad idea with a broken nose. After grimacing in pain, he spat out another mouthful of blood and spit. “Not sure that’s a good thing.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“You tried to  _throw_  me off a fuckin’ building! You. Are. A Lunatic.”

Of course, nobody let the irony in that comment slide. A series of snickering and “That sounds familiar” was picked up by the mics in the computer room. Johnny grinned and chuckled, looking over at the boss, who wore his own sheepish grin. “Man, this was a loooong time ago, huh?” He rolled his shoulders and looked back to their younger versions. “Well, guess you learned from the best.”

“Yeah I did. Though I suppose I wasn’t really all there, myself, to begin with.”

Younger Johnny seemed to agree, as he smirked around his half-smoked cigarette at the bloodied and freckled teen who had given up on trying to stay angry. “Pot callin’ the kettle black, eh? I’m the lunatic here, says the one who just dislocated his own shoulder.”

“Which hurts like bloody hell, by the way.” The younger boss sounded annoyed, but there was no real animosity as he leaned back against the rail, clutching his aching shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah. We’ll get ya fixed up in a minute.”

“Please tell me you aren’t planning on doing that yourself.”

“Fuck no.”

The younger boss half-smiled in the other boy’s general direction. “Thank god. ‘Ad me worried there for a second.”

“Holy crap. You do know how to smile.” Younger Johnny laughed when the smile immediately vanished. He stubbed out his cigarette and threw it over the edge. “C’mon. Let’s get the hell outta here and get your punk ass patched up.” The younger boss looked tired as he followed younger Johnny across the roof.

The boss and Johnny suddenly found themselves in the parking lot of the looming concrete building. “What the hell- oh, guess we’re tagging along.” The boss nodded in the direction of the entrance where their younger simulation counterparts were emerging from the building.

Younger Johnny didn’t hold the door open for the younger boss, not that he was expecting it. Pulling out a set of keys, younger Johnny turned and said something they couldn’t quite hear and the younger boss responded with a look they couldn’t quite see. The car next to the boss and Johnny unlocked.

Johnny let out a low whistle. “Aw, man. I remember this baby. Damn, she’s beautiful.”

There was no roof on the muscle car, it was a little on the old side, and the paint was a tad faded, but the boss had to agree, especially when younger Johnny hopped into the driver’s seat and brought the magnificent engine to life. The boss jumped into the back, leaning against the door and stretching his legs out on the seat. Johnny sat up on the back of the seat, planting his feet in the space the boss left him.

The boss sighed contentedly. “There were some good times in this car.”

“Oh yeah.”

The younger boss was more reserved about entering the vehicle. He pulled open the passenger door and hesitated before sliding carefully into the seat. “Nice car.”

Younger Johnny patted the steering wheel. “Yeah, she is.”

The younger boss looked down at the gear box. “Cars like this aren’t usually automatic, are they?”

Younger Johnny shrugged. “Well…I can’t drive stick, so…”

“No fuckin’ way. Johnny Gat can do everything in existence, besides drive stick?”

Stifled laughter was heard from over the mic.

“Shut it. And try not to bleed on the seat, either. Shouldn’t take long to get there.” Younger Johnny put the car in gear and the engine roared as they took off down the road.

“Where exactly are we going, anyway?”

“Pop Smith’s.”

“…Who?”

“You seriously don’t know who Pop Smith is?” Younger Johnny shot the younger boss an incredulous look, who just shook his head. “Retired military, closest thing to a doctor around here. How do you not know about him?”

“Don’t typically get into scrapes. Never needed a doctor, really.”

“For someone who doesn’t fight, you sure seemed to know what the hell you were doin’ back there.”

The younger boss half-shrugged. “Instinct.”

A low whistle, similar to the one his older self had made just a minute before. “Damn. That’s some instinct ya got there, kid.”

“Don’t call me ‘kid,’ Johnny. I’m-”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. You’re older than me. But seeing as how I don’t actually know your name, it’s kid or freckle dork.”

“I’m not overly fond of sharing personal details.” Narrowed eyes were watching younger Johnny closely.

Ben’s voice could be heard distantly. “Even as a kid.”

“Kid it is, then.” He slowed and turned into an older looking neighborhood. “Still, you’d be a nightmare if you had some training.”

“You’d be a nightmare if you fought seriously.”

A brow raised slightly. “What makes you think I wasn’t?” A pointed look was thrown his direction.

“Instinct.”

“Heh, you’re pretty interesting.”

“So are you.” There was silence as younger Johnny navigated the neighborhood and parked in front of a small house with a rocking chair on the porch and dead grass in the yard. He cut the engine and put his hand on the door handle.

“□□□□□□.”

Younger Johnny paused. “What?”

“My name. It’s □□□□□□.” The younger boss was looking down at the bloody handkerchief in his hands.

“Secret’s safe with me, kid… □□□□□□.” The front door opened and a gray-haired, straight-backed man stood behind the screen door. Younger Johnny got out to greet him. “Yo, Pop Smith. I’ve got a kid who could use a patch up.”

“Aw, man. So you’re tellin’ me you’ve got it so ingrained in you not to tell people your name, that you even repress it in your damn memories?”

The boss smiled from his seat in the back of the car. “ ‘Fraid so, Pierce.”

“Maaan. That’s messed up, playa. Do you even remember your own name?”

The boss acted like he was seriously considering the thought. “Doesn’t matter. John remembers.” Johnny chuckled and left his perch to walk around his old car, examining her from every glorious angle.

The younger boss, who had been watching younger Johnny talk with the man apparently known as ‘Pop Smith,’ opened the car door and slowly eased out into a standing position. He groaned and held his shoulder. “Ugh, screw fighting. Never doing this again.”

“Mind telling me where  _that_  attitude was during the primaries? Our PR group gave up on trying to cover up all the fights you got into, not to mention your arrest record.”

“You forget, Keith, public approval ratings went up after they stopped. Public likes an honest candidate.”

“The public likes an honest candidate, yes, but not a violent one.”

“What can I say? Must be the accent.” The boss climbed out of the car and patted her trunk before approaching the porch where his younger self was about to get his shoulder put back into place.

“Ah! Christ!” The younger boss rolled his shoulder a couple of times to test it, wincing as he did. Pop Smith and younger Johnny both looked amused, until he looked in their direction.

“Better?” Pop Smith’s voice was surprisingly quiet, as though he rarely used it anymore. When the younger boss nodded, a genuine smile spread across his weathered features. “Good. Now let’s get that nose fixed up. Luckily, it was a clean break, so I just-”

Without warning, Pop Smith reached out and yanked the younger boss’s nose back into the proper place. A series of sickening pops were heard. Much cursing ensued. Someone (or several people) not in the simulation laughed their ass off. One sharp intake of breath said someone didn’t.

Once Pop Smith had finished putting everything in its place and cleaning off excess blood, he pulled out a bandage and stuck it over the bridge of the younger boss’s nose. “That’ll cover the worst of it. You might have a scar later, from the skin being split open, but it might not be too noticeable.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.” The younger boss smoothed the bandage across his nose.

“You’re very welcome. Just try not to get into anymore scuffles, especially with this one.” He stuck his thumb out at younger Johnny.

“Wait a minute.” Shaundi’s voice drowned out the simulation voices. “That isn’t seriously the reason why you wear a bandage over your nose all the time, is it?”

“Er…yeah.” The boss smoothed the bandage in a rare bout of self-consciousness. “Yeah. I got a pretty good scar from that and it was easier back then to keep it covered. I guess it just kind of, I dunno, stuck.”

“You know, I get that you like to keep stuff from your past to yourself, I do. Heck, I would  _love_  if nobody knew about the whole drugs and Veteran Child thing. But, c’mon boss, even small stuff like that?”

“It wasn’t ever something that came up.” The boss knew there was no point in protesting, but what was his crew without a little dysfunction? Not the saints, that's for sure.

“Nothing’s ever something that comes up. You have a terrible habit of skipping your part of the ‘let’s get to know each other’ banter that happens over our downtime, like drinks or bank robberies.”

The boss held up his hands in surrender. “Alright, alright. I get it. Everyone wants to know more about me. Fine. I’ll share.”

“Really?” Asha sounded shocked at the idea of him actually opening up. The boss couldn't blame her, though. After all, the last time they had talked about the past he had shut down the conversation pretty quickly.

“Yeah. Well, we’re stuck in here until Matt and Kinzie find a way to get us out. Might as well make the most of it, eh? So, here’s the deal: one question each, my name not included.”


End file.
